Maine Maple Sunday

Fortunately for us we discovered the Painted Pepper Farm last year. Once again we gathered our family for Maine Maple Sunday and headed to the farm. They have a small sugar shack with a variety of maple products for sale including syrup, candy and nuts.

 

 

The small family run farm offers yummy yogurt made from goats' milk. The blueberry is very tasty. I brought home some cranberry orange goat cheese (among other goodies) which presented an elegant prelude to leftovers in the fridge. Our kids love the goats, the donkey thick with winter coat and the pony.

 

My mother being French Canadian told of pouring maple syrup onto snow and eating the hardened confection. That we did today. Look at the amber hue. A wee bit goes a long way. Happy Maine Maple Sunday 2008 thanks to the folks at Painted Pepper Farm.

 

Lunch

 

In the indigenous village we stayed at in Costa Rica everyone within walking distance from school goes home for lunch. Quite a difference from the twenty minutes of lunch our children get in most schools in the United States. No wonder we have an obesity problem. We are just shoveling it in. Literally FAST FOOD.

Hands that Craft

 

The Keys to the Spread of Dis-Ease

 

Until I photographed some old keys that lead to who knows where, did I discover that these keys harbor rust, dust, dirt, hair and...who knows what else. YUCK. Wash your hands AND your keys!

Submitted to Macroday: Key

Hand

 

Shoes

 

House with Handy Umbrella

 

Rubbing Out Mistakes

 

If it were only that easy. I never knew there were so many types of erasers. This shot was taken at a stationary store in San Isidro, Costa Rica.

Great Tree

 

It is hard to fully appreciate the size and magnificance of this tree. It was standing alone in a field, but in order to capture the whole tree I kept stepping back further and further until I was out on the dirt road on the wrong side of the fence looking in. It reminds me of the "Tree of Life" in the middle of Animal Kingdom in Florida. Real is so much better!

Bumble Bee

 

Arch

 

Yes folks, we went through this arch in a boat.

Carry a Long Stick

 

This photo was taken by a little girl from Boruca who was about eight years old. She had a very interesting perspective and a carefree eye. So many of her subjects may have been otherwise dismissed by the more rigid thinking adult. She also effortlessly shimmied up trees and poles and shot from ten feet up. Now I know I can't do that.

Little Wash

 

Yellow Balloon: A Present from the Teacher

 

Well Used Well Loved

 

Once a House

 

Bump

 

Dirt Road

 

See the dirt road up ahead? That is the road we traveled on...windy and narrow. To the left a deep valley and to the right...you guessed it-a deep valley. One false move by our driver and we plunge to our deaths!!! We were traveling at speeds that made this photo nearly impossible. You don't know how many shots of the sky I got as we hit a bump at the exact moment I pressed the shutter. It was CRAZY.

School Days

 

Husband and Wife

 

My Son: Avid Reader

 

Body draped,
Books scattered,
Legs sweeping air,
Leaning in,
Words inline
Pages turned hundreds,
Volumes and volumes devoured.

The Park Loop Road

 

The Shore Path

 

Thunder Hole

 

 

If you have ever been to Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park you MAY have witnessed the power of the mighty Atlantic. The first photo shows the area that is normally opened to visitors railing and all, folks can peer down into the belly of the hole and now and again it creates a thunderous roar and spray of sea. This is all possible under normal conditions, but with storms raging at sea it creates a precarious and dangerous situation. Obviously this area was off limits otherwise one would be carried out to sea.